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Today we welcome back Bruce Coffin who is celebrating the release of his second novel in his Detective Byron Mystery series, Beneath The Depths. I really enjoyed the first book in the series Among the Shadows.

Bruce recent helped me get my police procedure details right as I was writing my sixth book. He is here today to answer more questions. Thanks so much, Bruce!

Did you always want to be a police officer?

Not initially. I had actually planned to become a writer and attended college with that goal in mind. It wasn’t until I had a less than positive experience with a creative writing professor that I changed career direction.

What was the process for you to become a police officer?

I took the test for several of the local police departments before being offered a job with the Portland PD. Candidates are required to pass a number of things before they are sent to the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Two written tests, polygraph test, psychological test, background check, credit check, criminal check, driver’s license check, several interviews (including the captain’s boards), a physical exam performed by a doctor, and a physical assessment. I’m still wondering how I ever passed the psychological (twice). Maybe they graded on a curve.

Has the process for becoming an officer changed since you joined the force?

Not all that much. The process itself has remained the same. The biggest difference today is the number of people turning out to take the exams. When I tested to become an officer literally hundreds of people would take the test. Many local departments have trouble getting even thirty people to show up. This shortage of candidates has resulted in many officers transferring laterally from other agencies.

What are three things we should know about being a police officer?

It can be the toughest of jobs when things go wrong. It can be the most rewarding of careers when everything is going well. And policing is a front row seat to the greatest show on earth, the human condition. I don’t regret a single day of my twenty-eight years on the job.

What was your favorite part of the job? Any interesting experiences you can share?

Ha! There are too many to list. As for interesting experiences, you’ll have to read my novels.

If I get pulled over what should I do?

Do what I do when I’m pulled over. Shut the car off. Keep your hands where the officer can see them. Stay in the car. Be polite. Traffic stops are one of the most dangerous things an officer can do, especially at night when visibility is bad. Don’t add to the officer’s stress level by acting out or arguing. Court is the place to make your case, not on the side of the road. Treat the officer like you would want to be treated. Remember they have no idea who you are or what else you may have recently been doing when they approach you. I know an officer who pulled over a driver for failing to dim their vehicle’s high beams. That particular driver was returning home immediately after raping a murdering a woman.

What do people get wrong when they are writing a character who is a police officer?

I get asked this question a lot. If I had to sum it up quickly I’d tell you to write a real character first. After you’ve created a believable character turn his or her world upside down by making them a cop. All writers are readers first, just as all cops are people.

How do you use your expertise in your books?

The plots for my novels are fictional but I use as much of my own experiences as I can to make the stories as realistic as I can for the reader. Obviously I have to take a few liberties for the benefit the reader. In real life murder investigations sometimes go unsolved, but if I were to write my novels that way no one would want to read them. I make it a point to delve into the human and ethical struggles that police officers must confront every day. My novels are a way for those with no police experience to jump into the car with John Byron and Diane Joyner and race toward trouble from the safety of your couch.

How are you alike and different from your protagonist John Byron?

I constructed John Byron by throwing myself into a blender along with some of the officers who trained me when I was starting out and a few of the officers I worked with over the years. The traits John and I share are that we tend to look at things the way many veteran detectives do and we both have an irreverent streak especially when it comes to interference in our investigations. As for our differences, John is struggling with alcohol addiction and his failed marriage. I am blessed with a supportive and understanding wife. And the fact that she has put up with me and my craziness for more than thirty-five years makes me one lucky guy.

What are you working on now?

At the moment I’m hard at work on the manuscript for the third Detective Byron mystery, tentatively titled Beyond the Truth. I am almost three quarters of the way through first draft. Oh, and for those of you wondering, I have already begun plotting Byron number four…

Readers: Do you have a question you’d like to ask about being on the police force or about Bruce’s great series?

Bruce Robert Coffin is a former detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement. At the time of his retirement, from the Portland, Maine police department, he supervised all homicide and violent crime investigations for Maine’s largest city. Following the terror attacks of September 11th, Bruce spent four years working counter-terrorism with the FBI, earning the Director’s Award, the highest honor a non-agent can receive.

Bruce is the bestselling author of the Detective Byron Mysteries from HarperCollins. The debut novel in the series, Among the Shadows, was released to rave reviews, appearing in several Amazon bestseller lists and topping the paperback fiction list in the Maine Sunday Telegram. His short stories have been featured in several anthologies including the 2016 Best American Mystery Stories.

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Wicked Cozy Authors

Jessie Crockett/Jessica Estevao

Jessica Estevao writes the Change of Fortune Mysteries. The first in the series, Whispers Beyond the Veil, will release in September 2016. She loves the beach, mysterious happenings and all things good-naturedly paranormal. While she lives for most of the year in New Hampshire with her dark and mysterious husband and exuberant children, she spends summers on the coast of Maine where she keeps an eye out for sea monsters and mermaids.

As Jessie Crockett she’s the author of the nationally bestselling Sugar Grove Mysteries and the Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Live Free or Die.

Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale Series. The first in the series, Tagged for Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Sherry is also an independent editor who analyzes manuscripts from periods to plot holes.

J. A. Hennrikus / Julianne Holmes

Julianne Holmes writes the Clock Shop Mystery series, which debuted in 2015 when Just Killing Time was published by Berkley Prime Crime. Just Killing Time was nominated for a Best First Novel Agatha Award. Clock and Daggerwas published in August 2016. Chime and Punishment will be published in August 2017.

J.A. (Julie) Hennrikus has a Theater Cop series that will debut in the fall of 2017 with A Christmas Peril. She writes short stories that have appeared in the award winning Level Best Books. She serves on the board of Sisters in Crime, and is a member of Sisters in Crime New England, and MWA.

Edith Maxwell

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Edith’s alter-ego Maddie Day writes the Country Store Mysteries series (When the Grits Hit the Fan) and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, releasing in 2018. Edith, who lives north of Boston with her beau and three cats, also writes award-winning short crime fiction and is President of Sisters in Crime New England.

Liz Mugavero

Liz Mugavero is the author of the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, published by Kensington Books, Kneading to Die, a 2013 Agatha nominee, A Biscuit, A Casket, The Icing on the Corpse , and Murder Most Finicky . Liz also writes the Cat About Town series as Cate Conte for St. Martin's Press, coming soon.

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Barbara Ross is the author of the Maine Clambake Mysteries from Kensington Publishing: Clammed Up, Boiled Over, Musseled Out, Fogged Inn,and Iced Under. The sixth book in the series, Stowed Away, will be published in December 2017. Her novella “Nogged Off” was included along with stories by Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis in the holiday collection Eggnog Murder. Visit her website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com.

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The Wicked Cozys are lucky to be surrounded by many talented friends. Three of them write a monthly post on this blog.

Sheila Connolly

Sheila Connolly writes the Orchard Mysteries, the Museum Mysteries, and the County Cork Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, and the Relatively Dead series with Beyond the Page Publishing, and manages to squeeze few short stories between them all.

Kimberly Kurth Gray

Kimberly Kurth Gray is a recipient of the William F. Deck-Malice Domestic grant for unpublished writers. In addition to her monthly post as The Detective's Daughter, she writes for Scenes from a Baltimore Kitchen. Her latest short story can be found in The Boardwalk, a Rehoboth Beach anthology published by Cat and Mouse Press.

Susannah Hardy/Sadie Hartwell

Susannah Hardy is the author of the Greek to Me Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime, Feta Attraction, Olive and Let Die, and A Killer Kebab. As Sadie Hartwell, she writes the Tangled Web Mysteries from Kensington Publishing, Yarned and Dangerous and A Knit Before Dying (August, 2017). Visit her websites at www.susannahhardy.com and www.sadiehartwell.com.